Tokusatsu musebox

I'm reluctant to release my brother's hand, and my heart flutters a bit when Hiromu naturally releases my hand and offers his other to Etienne. He makes no comment as to our clasped hands, it doesn't seem to bother him at all.

I'm very confident, suddenly, that he will fit in perfectly well. Not that it will be as if he was never gone, that kind of distance could never be so easily dismissed. But I think he will fit in. I know he belongs with us.

Etienne is lost in his thoughts, it's making me feel a little disconnected as well.

"We were under the impression that your distance was not by choice, but by family obligations. Is your sister well?"

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I presume my eyebrows are still raised, a bit, from the surprise I felt when Hiromu-kun so smoothly offered his left hand to me to shake. My heart's quivering in my chest a little; nobody has done so without prompting before him, not even the Commander.

I'll let Emi speak for now, but that doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Emi seems interested in befriending Hiromu, knitting together the camraderie that over a decade of separation has rendered thin and nominal as the gauzy threads of a spider's web.

For my part, I know that we will, once the team has been fully integrated, all follow Commander Kuroki's orders in deployment and mission planning. But in the field, Hiromu will be our team leader. It is not a question of seniority or age, but suitability; the decision has been made that he will lead us, and so we will do. So as Emi speaks congenially with Hiromu, I am trying to keep myself at a little more of a distance. I must learn, quickly, and come to understand this boy on whose discretion our safety will surely, one day, rest.

I can feel a twinge of mild frustration from Emi, and I try to pin my thoughts more closely to the conversation at hand. I'm surely distracting him.

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They both look a little disconcerted when I offer my left hand, but Etienne shakes my hand easily enough. Maybe I'm misreading the situation. Nick's always telling me how bad I am at people. It just seems like they prefer to be joined, and given I'm to lead them in the field, I'd prefer to work with their preferences.

"It was indeed," I agree with Emeric. "Ah, she suffers from exhaustion, occasionally."

I didn't particularly like leaving her in the hospital this morning, but it was essential. She's hardly dying, and she'll be cared for. I'll go see her again when I can.

"It's not pleasant for her, but she just needs to rest," I say as diplomatically as I can.

We still haven't been called for the briefing, so I figure I'll ask. It genuinely does seem like they need more closeness than they did, the last time I saw them, when the Commander took us away in that van.

"I'm not meaning to pry." My hand goes to the back of my head reflexively, but Nick isn't here to hit me. "Purely to ask in terms of our mission. Am I correct in assuming that you two prefer to fight side by side?"

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I think Etienne's being a bit too serious, all told. I figure he doesn't like the idea of us getting too attached to anyone, or maybe it's just Hiromu he's wary of. Not just because of how long it's been since we've known him, but the fact that we're probably only a few hours away from turning to him as a kind of a leader.

I must admit, it will be hard to take instruction or orders from anyone but Etienne.

"Oh." I say when he asks. It's as simple as that for him, I guess. He's very blunt. He wants information, so he asks for it.

I like that, actually. Better than skirting around uncomfortable situations because no one's willing to be forward enough to ask plainly.

"Prefer, oui." I wonder if there's a more diplomatic way to put it, our dependence on one another, without making it come off as a weakness.

Because it isn't a weakness. Sure, if we're separated, we would be at more of a disadvantage. But as long as we are together, I believe us to be unstoppable.

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I have to frown a little at Emi's answer. I understand his interest in making sure Hiromu doesn't misunderstand our condition, but, while it is our preference, it is not only our preference to remain near each other.

"Aouh, it is... pas de simple," I add, squeezing Emi's hand to let him know I'm not happy about contradicting him in public, but I feel it's important.

"We must, is a more honest way to explain. We prefer to be understood as a unit within the overall Busters team."

That's fair, right?

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My hands are behind my back, and I listen with great interest. "That sounds excellent. We should run some drills later, I'd like to see how you work together, and how all five of us can integrate into fighting together."

Hm, next question. "What happens if you are forcibly separated, though? Do you practise fighting alone?"

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I'm glad Etienne clarifies for us, because I couldn't find the right words. I guess all the right words were with him. I squeeze his hand back and smirk at him to let him know I'm not bothered by his contradiction.

I bite my lip at Hiromu's next question, looking to Etienne in askance.

"Ah. Therein lies the problem. Put simply, no, we are not ever alone."

I hate how it's called. Why they chose those words. But it is what it is. "Our... Weak Point, it prevents separation."

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Again I frown. Again Emi's words are not quite precise enough for my liking.

"If it prevented separation, we would be less troubled by it, I believe," I correct him gently, looking to the side to meet his eye for the first time in a number of minutes. Normally we do not need to look at each other overmuch; we stand together and face the world. But I feel the need for an especial bit of connection with him, and the glance soothes me, before I turn back to Hiromu-kun.

"Rather, our Weak Point necessitates that measures be taken such that we are not separated, forcibly or otherwise. We of course are never unmindful of this, but..."

I presume Hiromu-kun will understand us now. I am protecting us, or trying to, only as I know how.

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My eyes widen as they explain.

Oh, this complicates matters. If it'd just been that they liked being together and worked well together, that'd be fine, we could deal with that. Make sure they spent enough time training separately that they could still manage if one was incapacitated or they were separated during battle.

But if they have to be within a certain distance of each other at all times...

"But it complicates fighting," I finish for Etienne, nodding to show I understand. "How far apart can you go? What happens to you if you are separated?"

It's blunt, I know, but I need to know.

I blink. How do they manage in their mecha? "I assume you pilot one Buster Machine together?"

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This blunt question of Hiromu's sends a chill up my spine, and I unconsciously grip even harder to Etienne's hand as though I'm afraid he'll be torn from me immediately. The threat is imagined, of course, and I close my eyes for a moment to take a steadying breath.

"Effects begin at approximately three meters." I say softly. I'm reciting something I heard once, a doctor or physician of some sort, probably reporting to Kuroki-san. "Disorientation is the first side-effect, followed by a loss of thought processes, loss of fine and then gross motor skills, and at a certain distance, unconsciousness."

I meet Hiromu's eyes briefly, then look away. Not at Etienne. Just, sort of, at the floor.

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My grip on Emi's hand is just as tight, just as fearful. We breathe together, calming.

Distantly, it occurs to me that we are having this conversation in a doorway.

"Duration of effects is as long as the physical separation remains, plus additional recovery time penalty, which is theorized increases exponentially for each unit of time or distance for which we are separated."

I swallow, looking up - I was looking at the floor, too, without really meaning to. Moments like this, we are truly as one person in two parts.

"I regret that we don't have further information than this. Commander Kuroki was...alarmed, and dissuaded extensive testing."

It is hard to blame him for this. I am told they initially feared our hearts would stop, or had stopped, when we fell suddenly and immediately to the floor of the testing room.

"Like puppets with your strings cut," Youko had told us later.

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My eyebrows draw down together over my nose, harder and harder, as they speak. This is... this is terrible.

They can't be kept from fighting, though. That much is obvious.

"Three meters. I understand," I say tightly, then I force myself to smile, force myself to show something more than tension, so they actually have some idea of how I'm reacting. "That sounds difficult for you. Thank you for telling me; I'll do what I can in the field."

I need to find out the other two's Weak Points too. We'll all have to adjust to each other.

...which I should mention.

"My Weak Point is quite foolish," I tell them. It's an offer, a confidence for a confidence, and also I want them to realise that I don't think they're liabilities. We all have them. I imagine Ryuu-san and Yoko-chan are liabilities because of their Weak Points, too. "I freeze when I see a chicken. Even a picture of a chicken."

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Etienne is lost in thought, or perhaps memory, again. Of course he is. I am too. Thinking about the day we did the testing. Everyone's reactions. Commander Kuroki's quiet seething anger at the one physician who wanted to repeat the testing with greater distance, with us hooked up to all sorts of monitoring devices. That never came to pass. The Commander wouldn't hear of it.

I clear my throat and look at Hiromu again when he offers the confidence of his own Weak Point. "I believe they are all foolish." I try to reassure him.

"Freeze?" I question, as gently as I can. "In what manner?"

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I suppose I was distracted by all the other considerations to be juggled as we are navigating our first conversation with Hiromu-kun as adults; only a great preoccupation could have prevented me from taking immediate note of one of Hiromu-kun's comments, which was run past by others, and which I only recall as Hiromu-kun speaks, 'in the field'.

"Ah-- Arrêtez-vous, s'il vous plaît, I apologize, mais, peut etre--" I look to Emi, then back over to Hiromu, my eyes perhaps a bit wide.

"Hiromu-kun, repeat what it was you said a few moments ago? You inquired about, about our Buster Machines, oui? We - we do not have any, you see, they are too large, would divide us too broadly. But you, you said...?"

But I cannot believe this has not been thought of before. I am already examining all the paltry knowledge I have of Buster Machine operation, trying to remember anything related to Hiromu-kun's extraordinarily straightforward idea.

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"Ah, my temperature doesn't drop, but I freeze in place physically. I'm still aware of my surroundings, but I can't move for a few minutes."

Emeric's trying to reassure me. It's... nice.

Etienne seems quite perplexed, and I frown. "I assumed you'd pilot the same Buster Machine," I complete for him. "So you don't have to be separated?"

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I'm a little startled when Etienne suddenly derails the conversation. He's surprised by something, and I wonder immediately what nuance of the conversation I must have missed, since it's inevitable that I did so, if Etienne is reacting so strongly, to the point where he reverts almost entirely to French for a moment.

Ah, he explains himself quickly enough, and I catch up with his confusion and concern shortly. "Ah!" I agree. "Non, there were never any Buster Machines developed for we two..."

I consider the thought. Takosawa and Kotako are already capable of operation as neatly together as Etienne and I do, they are twins in their own way.

"A dual cockpit." I say softly as the idea presents itself fully formed. I lunch forward half a step, grabbing Hiromu's shoulder with my free hand, my other still clutching fiercely to Etienne. "Do you think it is possible? Could the engineers create such a thing?"

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My brother is moved by the simplicity of Hiromu-kun's idea, as am I; moving forward in the same way, I grip Hiromu's other shoulder, looking across to watch my brother's face, and the hope blooming there.

"With two pilots - two minds and two Buddyroids to control it - could we to pilot a Machine which can complete tasks previously thought to be unachievable?"

I'm surely being too optimistic - it should be enough that we find a way onto the battlefield. There's no need to be exemplary. We should seek only to find a way to fight with the others.

But, I can't help but envision it...wouldn't that be wonderful?

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They each take my shoulder. I stand still, being solid for them, being strong, while they think through the implications.

I'm smiling.

It'd be hard not to smile, faced with this much excitement.

"I can't see why it wouldn't be possible," I say quietly. I grip their shoulders in return, but just briefly, don't want them to feel hemmed in by me. "And yes, there'd be advantages to a single pilot/Buddyroid pair, and advantages to having two pilots with two Buddyroids, too, I'm sure. You'd find all sorts of ways to be useful, to do things no one else can."

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Etienne mirrors me, as ever, and we exchange a glance, Etienne speaking all of the thoughts that had only half-formed in my mind before fleeing to his to be completed.

"That much more power," I muse aloud, "And that much more elaborate and efficient data processing... This could change everything!"

Hiromu supports our excitement in a quiet way I find oddly endearing. He grips our shoulders but immediately releases, and I know, somehow, that he doesn't want us to feel like we are all being too familiar too quickly.

Still, in this moment it feels as if maybe Hiromu had never been taken away from us when we were all children.

"We must speak with the Commander." I insist.

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"Yes, getting the permission to do so is paramount. As are determining the parameters that the Buster Machine engineer team may find most useful in establishing our ideal operational efficacy."

I look to Hiromu-kun, nodding as my brother has, a bit after he did. "It's strange to me that we have not before thought of this solution," I admit. "Perhaps we were unknowingly thinking within a box of possibilities based too closely on what we have already seen accomplished?"

"In any case, we owe you a debt of one sort or another, Hiromu-kun."

And as for owing...the phrase sparks my presence of mind and I grip Emeric's hand more tightly, releasing Hiromu's shoulder.

"Please, though, we are distracting you from your purpose. The Commander is ready to see us?"

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I shake my head instantly. "You don't owe me anything," I protest. "We're a team."

I... I know I have to get used to that. Have to get used to fighting as part of a team. But I know that's what I want to believe; I want to feel comfortable relying on all of them (and I know they're all skilled, it's just getting used to them covering my vulnerabilities in battle may be difficult). But I definitely, DEFINITELY don't want them to feel like they owe me a damn thing for suggesting something that hadn't been suggested already.

"Yes -- we should go."

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I hold onto Etienne's hand and take a half-step nearer to him, sidling close until our arms are properly pressed together and we're more of a united front, not to face Hiromu with, but to face the Commander. Now that we have proven to be quiet sufficient as far as associating with Hiromu goes, the angle of my nervousness has changed to be more directly focused on the idea of beginning to fight.

"We will find some way to thank you, Hiromu-kun, even if it is just for a suggestion that no one else had thought to make."

I nod at his indication, give Etienne's hand a further squeeze, and then take a step away from him again, releasing his hand regretfully. I'm sure no one will mind, but we're supposed to be professional.

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I know Emeric's right, that it's more professional for us to walk into the command room independent of each other. Even though we could probably enter hand-in-hand without raising a single glance, since everyone knows of us, if not knows us personally; since our circumstances are well known of. But he and I make an effort to be more professional than we're expected to be; it may be oversensitivity on our parts, but we've never felt that we can allow ourselves as many leniences as others allow themselves, if we want to be afforded the same level of respect.

If we were not such a unique case, perhaps it would feel more as though we labor under the pressure of a double standard of some sort. But we are, and so it is not. There is simply more expected of Emi and I than of normal...than of singular people. And that is fair, in its way, because we can achieve more than singular persons can.

All of this is what Emi and I know to our bones. But others do not, and as we have yet to prove the capacity and the competence which we believe is latent within us in battle, we walk singly where we might hold hands; we prove in every small motion that we have the potential and capacity for great ones.

So we enter the command center floor, standing at attention in front of Commander Kuroki's desk. I am on Emi's left, he on my right, and Hiromu stands on Emi's right, at the top of our line.

The others, sitting at the tables in the rear half of the room, stand and move to take their positions as well. Ryuu-san is at my left, Yoko-chan at his, on the end of our line. We all salute, though Hiromu is ever so fractionally slower to match our unified gesture. It makes me smile a little, fondly. He's still our newest, in little ways.

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loveenetronkurorin

The children -- the Busters -- all file out and fall into place. I return their salute, and quickly, concisely, explain the situation and what I need from them. For some, this is all old knowledge, for others -- Hiromu in particular -- it will be somewhat new. A refresher doesn't hurt for any of them.

As I finish, the alarm goes off, and Morishita advises of a Vaglass reaction. I eye them all evenly, calmly.

"Busters. Move out."

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We've all gathered, finally. I note that Hiromu isn't alone in being fairly new to the operation. Our last operator with a focus on subdimension monitoring and data transfer left recently due to his wife having a child, so Miss Nakamura Miho has recently been promoted into our ranks. Her salute matches Hiromu's almost precisely, which makes me smile.

The last thing I expect at the end of the commander's lecture and explanation of the mission and our duties is for the alarm to go off. My eyes widen and I turn my head just slightly to look at the glowing emblem on the wall. Surely it's just a drill?

No, Etienne's gone all tense, and it was foolish of me to assume that they would startle us with something like that.

This is real.

Our first real mission.

We salute as one (I note that this time Hiromu's salute is timed accurately with the rest of us) and I break with the rest of the group, heading automatically for the shooters.

They weren't originally designed to be used by more than one person at a time, but Etienne and I aren't permitted to separate in case of a malfunction, so I slide in first against the back curve of the shooter and wait for Etienne to join me as I draw my sunglasses out of a pocket and slip them on.

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Emi presses himself to the back of the shooter, and I step in to the other half, my front to his. Since we're facing opposite ways, my elbow smacks his as I too pull my sunglasses from their pouch and put them on. The shooter door slaps shut behind us with a hydraulic hiss, and I have just a moment to smile thinly at Emi, literally in mirror image of the small smile he's also offering me, before the monitor light in the compartment goes out, the shooter engages, and we're thrust on our way.

The ride is not a comfortable nor smooth one, but Emi and I are used to riding it together. We brace ourselves against each other and the shooter compartment's walls, and wait for the thump of our feet hitting solid ground at the deploy point. Talking is pointless right now - we know what we need to do.

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I misjudge the timing of the shooter door closing. It's not a big deal, I'm inside it already, I haven't done anything dangerous. I just expected it half a second after it actually happened.

I'll get used to it.

Sunglasses on to protect my eyes, I wait to land, then I run forward with the others by my side. Oh, this is a mess on first glimpse, but we'll pick it apart together, deal with all the knots of Vaglass, all the threats.

Ryuu-san and Yoko-chan are closest to the biggest group of civilians and immediately start protecting them to get them to safety.

I can see a small girl cowering behind a pillar behind a clump of Buglers. I'm peripherally aware of Ryuu-san, Yoko-chan, Emeric, Etienne, and I trust them to do their jobs. I'll step in if necessary, just as I also trust them to step in to cover me if necessary, but right now? I'm going to help that girl.

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